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Tomaat-garnaal
Tomatoes stuffed with grey shrimp
Tomates aux crevettes: tomatoes stuffed with North Sea grey shrimp
Along the Belgian coast, from Ostend to De Panne, tomaat-garnaal is the starter that tells you you are at the seaside: a hollowed raw tomato heaped with tiny, sweet North Sea grey shrimp in homemade mayonnaise, served with lettuce, lemon and often a few chips. The shrimp are caught and boiled on the boats, so they come ready-cooked and peeled. Because the dish has so few parts, everything depends on good ripe tomatoes and very fresh shrimp. The thing people often get wrong is drowning the shrimp in mayonnaise; use just enough to bind them so their sweetness comes through. Chef's tip: salt the hollowed tomatoes and turn them upside down for 10 minutes so they do not leak water onto the plate.
- Total time
- 20 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- ½ tsp salt
- 10 ½ oz cooked peeled brown (grey) shrimpor small cooked peeled prawns; kept chilled
- 4 tbsp mayonnaisemade with pasteurised egg if serving vulnerable people
- 1 lemonhalf juiced, half cut in wedges
- ⅓ oz fresh parsleyfinely chopped
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
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Method
0/4 doneStep 1: Cut a thin lid off each of 4 large ripe tomatoes. Scoop out the seeds and core with a teaspoon, leaving a 5 mm wall. Sprinkle the insides with ½ tsp salt and set them upside down on kitchen paper for 10 minutes.
10 minStep 2: Mix 10 ½ oz cooked peeled brown (grey) shrimp with 4 tbsp mayonnaise, the juice from half of 1 lemon, most of ⅓ oz fresh parsley and ¼ tsp ground black pepper. Fold gently so the shrimp stay whole. Keep it cold until the moment you fill the tomatoes.
Step 3: Lay 8 butter lettuce leaves on four plates and stand a tomato on each. Pile in the shrimp until they spill over the top, add the tomato lid at an angle and finish with the rest of the parsley and the lemon wedges.
Step 4: Serve at once. Do not leave the filled tomatoes at room temperature for more than an hour; leftover shrimp mixture keeps 1 day in the fridge.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 210 kcal
- Protein
- 17 g
- Carbs
- 6 g
- Fat
- 13 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does tomaat-garnaal take?
- About 20 minutes in total.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of large ripe tomatoes?
- Tinned chopped tomatoes: a 400g tin for about 6 tomatoes (in cooked dishes, not salads).
- What can I use instead of lemon?
- Lime, or 2 tbsp bottled lemon juice per lemon (no zest from bottled juice).
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